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Janet Kauffman
Janet Kauffman (born June 10, 1945) is an American poet, novelist, academic, and mixed media artist. Life Kauffman was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1972. She has taught in the English Department at Eastern Michigan University (EMU) in Ypsilanti, Michigan since 1988. Kauffman was instrumental in establishing EMU's Creative Writing Master's degree program, which has received national attention through its unconventional approach to writing. In her classes, Kauffman challenges her students to re-think the definition of "book" and ways in which to use text to communicate ideas. Her unusual approach to creative writing workshops includes creating deformed books, constructions with found objects and original or "borrowed" text, creative alphabets, micro-collections, and engineered books. Her passions include fighting the pollution of industrial agriculture, which has been the focus of much of her recent work, including the book Trespassing; Dirt Stories & Field Notes (2008), and the mixed media project, "The Violence of Plowshares." This 2006 exhibit draws on her experience in Michigan with factory farms, using items from her childhood growing up on a tobacco farm and other found objects. As the exhibit notes state: :The vision of farming as a peaceful way of life, surrounded by idyllic and pastoral landscapes, is a deeply-rooted dream in American life. That dream has turned nightmare where I live, and in many areas of the country. Recognition Kauffman has won a Pushcart Prize twice: once for short fiction and once for her poem "Mennonite Farm Wife".Janet Kauffman, Mennonite Poetry, Goshen College. Web, Mar. 3, 2013. She has been the recipient of numerous other awards, including: * Michigan Arts Award, 1997 * Creative Artist Grants * Michigan Council for the Arts 1984 and 1987 * National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, 1985 * Rosenthal Award, American Academy-Institute of Arts and Letters, 1983 Publications Poetry * Writing Home (with Jerome McGann). Hudson, MI: Coldwater Press, 1978. * The Weather Book. Lubbock, TX: Texas Tech University Press, 1981. * Where the World Is. New York: Montparnasse Editions, 1988. * oh corporeal (chapbook). Coldwater Press, 2010.Publications, JanetKauffman.com. Web, Oct. 16, 2014. *''Sleepwalker'' (chapbook). Coldwater Press, 2013. Novels * Collaborators: A novel. New York: Knopf, 1986; Saint Paul, MN: Graywolf Press, 1993. * The Body in Four Parts. Saint Paul, MN: Graywolf Press, 1994. * Rot. Kalamazoo, MI: New Issues / Western Michigan University, 2001. Short fiction * Places in the World a Woman Could Walk: Stories. New York: Knopf, 1983. * Obscene Gestures for Women: Stories. New York: Knopf, 1989. * Characters on the Loose: Stories ''. Saint Paul, MN: Graywolf Press, 1997. * ''Five on Fiction (flash fiction). Providence, RI: Burning Deck Press, 2004. * Trespassing: Dirt stories & field notes (stories & essays). Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 2008. Non-fiction *''X Amount of Timelines'' (with art by Nancy Chalker-Tennant). Rochester, NY: Chalker Editions, 1995. *''Another Account: The life of a stream'' (with art by Nancy Chalker-Tennant). Rochester, NY: Chalker Editions, 2004. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Janet Kauffman, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Oct. 16, 2014. Audio / video *''Janet Kauffman: Poems'' (cassette). Kansas City, MO: New Letters, 1986. See also *List of U.S. poets References External links ;Poems *"Many Small Children at Guernica *Janet Kauffman in A Cappella: Mennonite voices in poetry ;Books *Janet Kauffman at Amazon.com ;About * Janet Kauffman Official website *Interview with Janet Kauffman at Interlochen Arts Academy *"On the Materiality of Air: Janet Kauffman's bodyfictions" (excerpt) Category:1945 births Category:Living people Category:American artists Category:American novelists Category:American poets Category:Artists from Michigan Category:Artists from Pennsylvania Category:Eastern Michigan University faculty Category:People from Lancaster, Pennsylvania Category:University of Chicago alumni Category:Writers from Michigan Category:Writers from Pennsylvania Category:20th-century poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:21st-century poets Category:21st-century women writers Category:American women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Women poets